SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Syracuse Crunch rallied past the Toronto Marlies, 6-3, tonight at Coca-Cola Coliseum.
The Crunch opened 2024 with a win and advanced to 17-11-2-2 on the season. Syracuse is 3-0-0-0 in the eight-game season series against Toronto.
Crunch goaltender Matt Tomkins earned the win stopping 37-of-40 shots. Keith Petruzzelli turned aside 18-of-23 in net for the Marlies. The Syracuse power play went 1-for-4, while the penalty kill was 4-for-5.
The Marlies were first on the board 6:43 into the game. Joseph Blandisi won the draw in the right circle and sent the puck back for Ryan Tverberg who scored as he cut across the slot. The Crunch evened the score with a power-play goal eight minutes later. Gage Goncalves fired a shot from the right point that was tipped by Joe Carroll in the slot then again by Gabriel Dumont into the net. Toronto responded with a power-play goal of their own and regained the lead at the 17:41 mark when Alex Steeves set up Nick Abruzzese for a one-timer from the bottom of the right circle.
Syracuse knotted the score for a second time at the 6:08 mark of the middle frame. Jack Finley deked around a defender and sniped a shot past Petruzzelli.
Carroll extended Syracuse’s lead with two goals in the third period. The first was at 3:23 when he came in on a 2-on-1 with Finley and sent in the last minutes cross-slot feed. Just 1:36 later, Carroll forced a turnover along the boards in the defensive zone, sped down the ice and beat Petruzzelli for his second of the period. Toronto stole one back with 5:47 remaining in the game when Kieffer Bellows sent in a wrister from the high slot, but Syracuse took it back a minute later. Cole Koepke beat a Marlies defender when chasing down the loose puck and scored with a slap shot from the left face-off dot. Koepke then added an empty-netter in the final seconds to lock in a Crunch victory.
The Crunch and Marlies face off again tomorrow.
Single game tickets and ticket packages for the 2023-24 season are on sale now and can be purchased in person at the Crunch office located inside the Upstate Medical University Arena at Onondaga County War Memorial at 800 S. State St. in Syracuse, by calling the office at 315-473-4444 or online through Ticketmaster.
Crunchables: Joe Carroll recorded his first career two-goal game and three-point game tonight…Chris Harpur made his AHL debut tonight…Cole Koepke tallied his first two-goal game since Feb. 21, 2022 against Belleville.